Fly fishing is considered as a sport. The principle consists of casting a specific type of fishing rod and placing on or in the water an artificial fly, to lure a fish.
If it is possible to create, using many and varied types of material, flies of different shapes, sizes and/or colours, the principle behind making these flies is virtually always the same.
More particularly, a tying thread is used, which helps to fasten onto the shank of a fish hook the different materials entering into the composition of an artificial fly, notably those simulating the body, wings, legs etc. of such a fly.
In particular, to make the body of such a fly, a product named dubbing is used, which includes hairs (particularly animal hairs) and/or fibres (synthetic, natural, of plant or animal origin), which is twisted into the tying thread, in order to make a dubbing rope intended to be wound round the shank of the fish hook.
Very concretely, after attaching the end of the tying thread to the fish hook, a loop is formed, particularly with this tying thread or another tying thread, between whose strands the dubbing is placed.
Very often, to ensure the adherence of the dubbing hairs and/or fibres to just these two strands of the loop, it is a known procedure to coat these strands with dubbing wax.
The dubbing and the strands of the loop are then twisted using a specially designed tool, usually known as a “dubbing twister”, which comprises a handle from which extend two metal prongs each ending in a hook, which is engaged in the loop.
This tool has the dual function of holding the loop open to insert the dubbing, then, by turning the handle, twisting the strands of the loop around this dubbing, in order to obtain a dubbing rope. The same tool then enables the dubbing rope obtained in this way to be wound around the shank of the fish hook. By winding the tying thread in a spiral around the assembly formed by the shank and the dubbing rope, the dubbing rope is secured in position around this shank.
As can be seen from reading the foregoing description, a specific tool is necessary to provide these two functions consisting, on the one hand, of twisting the dubbing and the strands of the loop and, on the other hand, of winding the dubbing rope thus obtained onto the shank.
As mentioned above, to make a fly, the user uses a tying thread which is taken, in fact, from a bobbin of thread, which the user uses a bobbin holder to hold. Essentially, this bobbin holder comprises, on the one hand, a guide tube for the tying thread, through which this tying thread passes, and on the other hand, a gripping device, generally extending from the said thread guide tube, and comprising two branches between which the bobbin is held.
The function of this bobbin holder is to hold the bobbin so that it can freely rotate whilst being braked at the same time, in such a way as to enable the tying thread to unwind progressively during the different stages of making the fly.
Consequently, when designing the fly body and therefore when fastening the dubbing onto the hook shank, the operator must handle separately the bobbin holder on the one hand, and the “dubbing twister” on the other.
Some have already imagined a bobbin holder able to fulfil the two above-mentioned purposes (holding the loop open to insert the dubbing and twisting the strands of the loop around this dubbing). Thus it is known that a small hook, which is axially mobile on the thread guide tube, can be fitted which the user can engage in the loop, after inserting the dubbing in between the two strands of this loop.
By turning the bobbin holder, it is possible, by means of the latter, to twist not only the two strands of the loop, but also the main tying thread around the dubbing. As in the previous solution, the dubbing rope thus formed, is then wound round the hook shank. Once this operation has been done, the small hook can be unhooked from the loop, which allows the main tying thread to be released.